"I don't care about the stupid pill-" Urumi sighed and stuffed it under her arm. "Fine. Whatever. Not the point. I don't THINK he took anything else, but it's still creepy. Are we going to do something about him or not?"

"Why are you worried about James?!" Otto asks, "Sky Vista Cruises is meant to be a fun, family-oriented cruise line! If someone realized that we had allowed an item like this on-board, the parental outcry would be horrendous! We'd be labelled as youth-corrupting pariahs to the likes of video games and rap music! So, I demand that whoever brought this on board confess as soon as possible!"

Otto tries to glare intimidatingly, but it doesn't seem to have quite the effect he had intended.

"Welp, I've got no idea who brought it on, so don't ask me!" Bryan responded, exasperatingly raising his hands up. "And besides, isn't a killing game a bit... y'know, really not family and kid-friendly?

A recording of an annoyingly dramatic sigh plays. "Mr. Suarez... what a typically naïve response..." Otto says, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Really, just think about it, son. How many children did you see the last time you went to an R-rated movie?" Without waiting for a response, Otto continues, "It was at least a million, right? Enough to fill five theatres? Well, that's exactly my point."

Otto slowly hovers away from him continuing, "Indeed, we live in a society where violence is considered mainstream. So many children watch violent movies or TV shows everyday! Even worse, they watch shows with intense, crude language like 'butt' and 'poop' peppered recklessly through the dialogue, and most parents consider this to be okay!"

Otto points at the body pillow in Urumi's hand. "But this is not okay! What's the term parental guardians use for this? Oh right, it's 'Weeb Trash'. Sky Vista Cruises will not stand for Weeb Trash! Now then, it's time to take out the garbage!"

Otto hovers at one end of the body pillow and fires a laser straight down the middle, scattering the pillows contents across the floor and causing the pillow itself to deflate uselessly.

"Oh nooo... Whatever will I do without the thing I never asked forrr..." Urumi deadpanned as hard as she could before running her hand through her hair. "...I give up, I'm going for a swim. I'll figure out what to do about that slimebag later."

She dropped the shredded remains of the pillow and headed back to the water park.

Bryan simply rolled his eyes in response to Otto's reasoning. "At least those aren't real. And parents really shouldn't let their kids see those, anyway... Ah, whatever. I'm gonna go lift some weights or something. See you all later!" he chirped before going back into his room.

V.A.L. wheeled into the lounge and saw Florian cleaning. "Bzzt, good day Ultimate Florian," the robot greeted. "May I be of assistance, bzzt?"

"Hello, Master V.A.L!" Florian smiles. "You don't really need to do anything, but if you want you can help me dust off some of the furniture over there." He points to a swiffer and some dusty furniture in the room.

An announcement came over the remaining passengers’ bracelets, calling them to the fountain plaza. Upon arriving, they saw Otto hovering in front of the spa, eyeing the fountains nervously.

“Ah ha, everyone’s here! Excellent!” Otto says, “Now we’ll try to get this over with as quickly as possible! After all, we’ve got a schedule to keep… and I don’t feel particularly safe around all this water.”

“Alas, it seems they did not!” Otto exclaims, “But I suppose even in the event that they had, I wouldn’t have been much use in the event of an airship! Saving people would be different considering my easily-marketable appearance!”

“Yo, can you hurry this up?” Kyle asks from across the bracelets, “Pardon my French, but I really need to take a crap.”

“Umm… Thanks for that,” Bryan remarks.

“Alright, alright!” Otto says, “Anyway, apologies for the lateness! For whatever reason, it took the boss forever to send the motive in, but the moment I saw it I was inspired! So, here’s the deal!”

“We’re going on a bit of a scavenger hunt!” Otto shouts as the fountains in the plaza all go off at once in a dramatic display. “I’ve hidden a secret prize somewhere in the waterpark! It’s a balloon that looks just like me! First one to find it wins!”

“I call dibs,” Jack says, “Balloons are the best.”

Ignoring him, Boetius asks, “Why the hell do you expect us to kill each other over a balloon?”

“Well, this balloon has a special purpose!” Otto explains, “If you manage to grab it, you’ll be exempt from being randomly executed if a trial ends in failure!”

The mood immediately darkens. It doesn’t take much time to figure out how dangerous such a prize could be in the wrong hands…

Everyone turns to James and, to no one’s surprise, he already has a devious grin plastered on his face.

“Oh, how interesting…”

“No way we’re letting that happen!” Raul shouts, “Alright, here’s the plan. We split into two groups. One looks after James and the other looks after Mitzi. Then whoever finds this prize first reports it to the other group, and we’ll decide who’s trustworthy enough to get it from there!”

“Indeed, that seems to be the safest plan.” Keri remarks, “We’ll do it.”

“Oh, sure, do whatever you want,” James says, “I do enjoy a challenge.”

“Well, it looks like you’re all already getting excited!” Otto says, “I’ll leave you to it then! Remember, the sky is the limit!” Otto zooms off, weaving his way around the fountain spouts.

“Bzzt, alright, let’s begin searching,” V.A.L. says. “We’ll begin by splitting into two groups. Everyone pick a side of the fountain and gather there.

As the groups mingle, James passes by Mitzi. He quickly pats her on the shoulder and says, “Well, looks like they got the better of us this time.”

Mitzi jerks away from him and keeps walking. “…Whatever.”

Soon, the teams are divided up. Raul, Boetius, Oscar, Koichi, Rinea, Jack, and James find themselves together, with the other team consisting of Florian, Irene, V.A.L., Keri, Bryan, Urumi, and Mitzi.

Spoiler: 9:30 A.M.

After the students had spent a little time searching, they heard an ominous computerized voice echoing throughout the waterpark.

“Water rejuvenation systems increasing by 500%.”

Though no one was sure what that meant, they immediately saw the results… or, more accurately, heard. The sound of rushing water blasted their eardrums as every spout in the water park (rather it was the fountains, the slides, or even the wave pool) increased in intensity, spilling water across the floor. Before long, the water level began to steadily rise…

“Shit!” Bryan shouts, “This place is gonna flood!”

“Indeed, if we do not find shelter soon… I believe was all may perish,” Irene says, still calm despite the situation.

Everyone ran for cover, trying to remain in their groups.

Spoiler: 10:30 A.M.

With a loud groan, the doors of the Waxy Acres Waterpark flew open, a torrent of water gushing out. The wave surged between the dragon statues and fanned out across the lawn, dragging a few odds and ends from the park with it as it surged into the surrounding neighborhood.

Soon, the waterpark is back to normal, with the fountain spraying a normal amount of water, and light stretching across the room from the windows. There is a serene calmness to it, and many of the passengers begin to gather together from their places in the room.

Suddenly, someone shouts, “Hey, look! The water is changing colors!”

Everyone bumps past Jack, who is standing on the edge of the river, watching as veins of red snake their way through the water. Someone, or something, was making the sea flood with something sinister.

Her hair swirled around her as she lay, almost peacefully, atop the lazy river. But her face lacked the peaceful serenity of the rest of the scene.

Her eyes were wide open, face frozen in shock. A grisly gash traced the front of her neck, leaking blood into the waves.

Mitzi Maureen, the Ultimate Emetologist, was dead.

Spoiler: Investigation

“Oh, egads! One of our passengers has been murdered! Please gather near the bridge to the right of the spa as soon as possible! The trial will begin in about an hour, so begin your investigations immediately. Good luck!”

The passengers just spend a little while staring into the river grimly. No one said a word because no one particularly wanted to be the first to say the words that had immediately sprung to their minds: “She had it coming.”

“Come on,” Boetius eventually says, “We have to take V.A.L. back up to the blimp.”

Rinea, Florian, Urumi, and Boetius continue carrying V.A.L up to the top floor and then place it in its charging station. Upon returning, they split up and begin their investigation. Oddly, James never shows up.

After the investigation, the passengers begin to file into the storage room of the ship where the trial room awaits. V.A.L. rolls in, apparently rejuvenated after an hour of charging. More or less, bloodied or not, everyone is accounted for. There’s not much discussion as the staircase reveals itself.

“Alright, good luck everyone! You can’t half-ass this one, seriously!” Kyle insists as they make their way into the trial room where Otto zips about, and the imposing podiums stand in a circle. Unlike last time, there are now five portraits. Circe, Abby, Alex, and Jerry had been dead, and now Mitzi had joined them.

Mitzi… She hadn’t been nice, that was for sure. Caustic bitterness emanated from every fiber in her fragile body, a body that tortured her very existence, taking her nearly to the grave. She had used that negative energy to take a life for her own, even though she herself seemed to have nothing to live for… and now that murder was the only thing she’d left behind.

"Hello and welcome to the trial!" Otto says as he takes his place at the podium. "I know you guys had a lot of trouble with the last one, but this one should be a little easier for you guys, assuming everyone does things by the book!"

(By the way, here's some more in-depth descriptions of the spa and locker rooms, if you need them. I might add a lame MS Paint map here too.)

Spoiler: Spa

The spa consists of two floors. The bottom floor is one entire room divided only by some curtain dividers. It contains your usual spa amenities like massage tables and those weird cucumber slice things and some beautiful floor to ceiling windows in the front of the room. On the other end is stairwell heading up to the second floor.

On the top floor is the second floor lobby. There’s nothing particularly interesting here except some windows and a hatch in the ceiling for accessing the roof. There are three doors on the opposite wall.

The two doors on the left lead to saunas. There isn’t any standing water here, just seats made of wooden panels. A fire in the room heats some rocks just under a chimney to generate the steam.

The rightmost room is a washroom. Just inside is a small shower with a blue shower curtain. Next to that are several washers and dryers. A table is next to the furthest one, and besides that is a washtub (basically a bathtub without a drain, so water stands in it)

Spoiler: Locker Room

Just inside the front door is a small lobby area with nothing much of interest beyond the separate doors to the boys and girls locker rooms as well as a long hose for washing feet.

Both locker rooms are the same. They all feature the same lockers of various sizes, some benches, and a few potted plants. Each locker’s key is placed inside its respective locker while it is unlocked.

"She's... dead," Bryan responded to V.A.L.,'s question with a hefty sigh. "Anyway, I guess we should go over what we all found." He crosses his arms as he says this. "There was a note on her body written in blue ink. Here's what it said..."

Spoiler:

“I think I know where the prize is. I absolutely will let you share in the prize, as my great equal in this place. In thirty minutes, meet me near the slides. I may be unconscious, and you may have to help me.”

"And Rinea said that it looked like she drowned, and her IV bag had some holes in it that were leaking," he added.

"By the park entrance and ticket booth, there was this... deflated blue whale thing, and some towels were by it, too. But here's the weird thing--all of those towels were tied together. Anyways, we want into the ticket booth, and there was what looked like a shower curtain in there." He tapped his cheek. "And outside the ticket booth, there was this power box that had its cover ripped off, and it looked like there was rubble around it. The cover was right nearby." He looks around at Oscar and Rinea. "That just about covers it, right, guys?"

"This morning I still felt like complete crap from the beating Oscar laid on me." He took out the painkillers and shook them. "Thanks again, Doc. Anyway, weirdly enough, there was a red capsule in my room with a uh...strange picture inside."

"So, during the scavenger hunt, I split off from the group. I wanted to check out the locker room. I kind of felt like I had a cosmic connection with that place ifyouknowwhatimsaying. I decided to take the lazy river there cause I needed the decompression time anyway."

"Then, and it was totally whack, but the park started flooding! I sought out shelter in the ticket booth--oh, and there was a generator at the side. This becomes important later."

"The ticket booth held itself together as the place flooded. It was pretty dope, I could see the water and bubbles rising outside and everything. By my estimation, the water was like ten feet tall. At around 10 PM, I heard the sound of metal groaning...or was it straining? Twisting? Whatever, it sounded like it came from the bottom of the slides."

"Then I heard some rubble hit the generator, I think. It must've been that cause the lights went out. So then I lit up. I mean obviously, right? What the fuck else was I supposed to do?"

"That's about it. About half an hour later, the flood stopped. I chilled out for a bit more because I was too fried. The power box was fried too--it was all busted up and shit. I then joined with everyone later."

"Phew." Jack sighed, exhausted from telling his tale. "Keri or Florian is probably gonna do a better job with sharing the investigation results, so I won't bother."

"Mitzi did disturb the peace...so I can't say she didn't have it coming..." Florian shakes his head. "Whatever. Let's just find the killer and get this over with so I can bake some more cupcakes for you guys.."

"Miss Irene and I found two capsules on the floor of our room in the morning, with a rainbow handkerchief inside the one with my name on it."

"Anyways, when the place started flooding and we split into groups in the spa, Miss Irene and I decided to go to the leftmost sauna. We noticed that the sounds of the flood were louder there, and that there was a missing window. I spent a while trying to heat the sauna while Miss Irene was looking for the others, but nothing worked.."

"Then we found a pool floaty the size of a small sailboat that looked like a grinning whale that we had to push out the window since it ourgrew the room we were in. It had a capacity of two." Florian nods.

"Suddenly, at 10:00, over the roar of the torrential water, a distinct wrenching sound could be heard, like twisting metal. Except it must have been whole girders of metal bending under the pressure of the flood. It was tough to know for sure, but it sounded as if it came from where the bottom of the slides are. The water must have been just over ten feet tall." The butler mumbles.

"The two of us paced about the room awkwardly until we heard what sounded like a crash, like heavy things banging into other heavy things. Th-then I heard the voice of Mister Suarez, who spoke to me while Irene sat perfectly still."

The butler continues. "Mister Suarez, Miss Irene and I found Master V.A.L all battered on the floor in the washroom, and it told us that Mitzi was gone! Can you believe? Anyways, we split up once more, and Miss Irene and I headed to the rightmost sauna. However, at one point we we realized we needed to escape somehow, and decided to use the floaty! But what I noticed was weird was that there was now a white cord thing wrapped around the bottom of its mouth, and the rocks for heating in the sauna were now in the center of the room! But you know what was worse? When we got on the floaty, there was a hole!"

"When I reached around and looked for the hole, I found another floaty...it was a life vest that only one person could wear. Miss Irene seemed weirdly unbothered, but I knew that only one of us could get out there alive! I told her that she deserved the life vest more than me, gave the vest to her, jumped into the water, and..."

Florian pauses awkwardly. "Then I blacked out. When I woke up again, I saw Mister Suarez' handsome face kneeling over me, and noticed that the place was no longer flooded.."

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Bren holds his lute upside down, letting water drain out of it.He plays a few chords, but apparently the sound is not quite up to his standards, as he begins to angrily tune the instrument."... I can't believe this is happening. If you wanna know about my investigation, ask Urumi. She took everything that looked important from Doc's room, and barely even let me see any of it."He goes back to his tuning, occasionally striking a note before angrily huffing and trying again.

"Oh, and one more thing, when Miss Irene and I were in the rightmost sauna, I tried to open the door but I couldn't get out! It was crazy, I thought we were going to be stuck there! But then when I tried again a few moments later, the door opened and I could see Mister Brennan, Miss Sawamatsu and Mister Suarez around Master V.A.L.."

Florian turns to V.A.L. "Yeah, you were lying down, sparks were coming out of your joints, and you had trouble speaking...You must have short-circuited."

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"Oh, right, one more thing! When we were searching around, Keri kinda disappeared... I dunno where she could've gone," Bryan says with a shrug. "Also, the group I was in, minus Keri, all went into the spa. We split up, and Urumi and I were in the lobby. I was watchin' the window for Keri, but when I looked back, Urumi disappeared, too..."

His face slightly reddens at Florian's description of him, and he waves his hands in the air. "H-Hey, I'm not that handsome! But, uh... thanks for the compliment, I guess."

Oscar simply nods along as the others speak, not paying too much attention at first. One of his hands is freshly bandaged, which he seems quite distracted by. "And right when I thought it was starting to look better... Ah, you need my story now. Important to the trial and all."

"Right, we all know how it all started at the very least. My balloon hunting party was of course the one in charge of our good Mr. Clement, consisting of myself, Raul, Rini, Koichi, that jester, and Jack. Naturally, things went oh so swimmingly." The tone implies things did not go swimmingly.

"Not too long into the search, Jack ditches us, not that I really blame him. We do some aimless wandering until 9:30, which is when the flood started. Surprise, the director runs off in the confusion and Raul has to chase after him. Not wanting to stay out in the damp, the rest of us herded into the boy's locker room. In there, we all played checkers and made cakes. A wonderful time was had by all! No rogue jesters pulling a knife on me or anything!" He waves his bandaged hand up in faux glee.

"Around 10:00 I heard that same sound the butler rather... mechanically described." He pauses to shoot Florian an odd look before continuing. "Jack described it accurately enough, so just know I heard it as well."

"As for my investigation, Rini and Bryan helped me search out and around the park. Seems the athlete already breezed through our findings, so that saves me the trouble. It is worth mentioning the ticket booth was mostly dry, yet that shower curtain was damp and in a heap. Not much else to add there."

With all said and done, Oscar offers a weary bow to top it all off. "That's all there is to it. I'd very much like to move on from that, if you don't mind..."

"Not too long into the search, Jack ditches us, not that I really blame him. We do some aimless wandering until 9:30, which is when the flood started. Surprise, the director runs off in the confusion and Raul has to chase after him. Not wanting to stay out in the damp, the rest of us herded into the boy's locker room. In there, we all played checkers and made cakes. A wonderful time was had by all! No rogue jesters pulling a knife on me or anything!" He waves his bandaged hand up in faux glee.

Bren stares at Oscar's bandaged hand. "It was... Self defense, okay?" he doesn't seem entirely convinced. His head drops. "I'm sorry, it was a reflex, I didn't mean to..." he mumbles, almost inaudibly.

Irene's smile seems to have faded. It has been replaced by a blank expression-- 'not quite there', or deep in thought would be a good way to explain it. She looks at the palm of her hand, then says, "Florian has, well... explained everything from our perspective."

After a short pause, Irene speaks up again. "As for my investigation, or rather, well, our investigation-- we found nothing important on the first floor of the Spa besides a closet next to the pool... In the washroom, the wash tub was tipped over. The curtain rod did not really, well, have a curtain either... and there was a pile of towels next to the washer. The sauna on the right had a weird mark embedded on it, four points that fanned outward. It was on, while the leftmost sauna was, well... on. After that, Koichi leaned against a wall and it-- well, shifted. Apparently there was wood... paneling, and a strange hiding spot."

Bren stares at Oscar's bandaged hand. "It was... Self defense, okay?" he doesn't seem entirely convinced. His head drops. "I'm sorry, it was a reflex, I didn't mean to..." he mumbles, almost inaudibly.

"Yes, you defended yourself from that handshake very admirably. Had I been any slower you might've taken a finger." Oscar rolls his eyes. "We'll... talk about it later. I suppose now isn't the best time to bring it up."

Bren holds his lute upside down, letting water drain out of it.He plays a few chords, but apparently the sound is not quite up to his standards, as he begins to angrily tune the instrument."... I can't believe this is happening. If you wanna know about my investigation, ask Urumi. She took everything that looked important from Doc's room, and barely even let me see any of it."He goes back to his tuning, occasionally striking a note before angrily huffing and trying again.

"Oh, whatever." Urumi clicked her tongue. "It doesn't matter who found them as long as someone did, right?"

She sighed as if explaining her findings would be a pain. "Okay, so I found two little red capsule things with Rinea's and Mitzi's names on them. It sounds like a bunch of people had those in their rooms; Keri and I found some this morning too. What's really weird is I'm pretty sure they were too big to push under the door..." She shot a nasty glare at James before continuing. "Oh, there was some kind of white vial by Mitzi's bed. Nothing in it.

"We went to check on the robot next. Its memory chip seemed to be fine, but its breaker was off, so I flipped that back on.

"Let's see, what else... We found Camera Boy sleeping in the bathroom. He was soaked but his camera wasn't. There was a mattress on the floor in storage... Oh, and when we went out to the promenade, we saw some fabric hanging off the slide like a rope ladder. ...I think that's about it.

"As for where I was during the flood, you guys already know that. I was pretty much just searching the spa house until the water went down." She crossed her arms in annoyance. "Geez, what kind of idiot designs a water park that floods itself anyway? No wonder this place is abandoned..."

Florian turns to Bryan once more. "By the way, how did you find me? I don't remember anything that happened between the moment I jumped into the water and the time I woke up, when the flood had subsided...Did I miss anything important?"

"Mitzi... I will not miss you, but you did not deserve to die. I am sorry this happened," Keri said quietly to herself, before looking up at Bren. "And Bren, your lute... is she okay? She is an antique, I cannot imagine water is good for her."

She sighed before focusing on the trial proper. "Once again we must catch a killer in order to save an innocent... but I wonder if it is even right to decide matters ourselves like that. Otto is the executioner, I do not feel comfortable playing along to his narrative. I cannot decide for the group however, so I shall do what I can to help in this trial."

"As Miss Sawamatsu noted, we both received red capsules this morning. Mine contained a note claiming that one of my bombs had been left in the control room and would go off if I did not defuse it... a lie, it would seem, but I could not take that chance. The bombs were my responsibility, so I could not simply let one be used for evil. After Miss Sawamatsu left I pocketed some supplies from my bag: pliers, screwdrivers, and a glass cutter. Then, of course, we were all gathered for the motive announcement."

"When we all split into groups to search for the balloon, I took the chance to hide and go off alone. It was not difficult, I simply slipped into a bush and slowed my breathing to remain undetected. However I had not foreseen the sudden flooding... I am very sorry for making you worry, Miss Sawamatsu." Keri paused to incline her head anxiously at Urumi, before continuing, "But I could not have stopped then, the bomb might still have been a threat, so I made my way over to the control room as I had initially planned. However I found the door to be locked, which only reaffirmed my belief that a bomb might have been in there. I remembered that a window in the control room looks out into the deep end of the wave pool, and so quickly dived down there and used my glass cutters to break the window."

"Unfortunately... it seems like it had been a trap. As I landed on the control room floor I must have triggered a tripwire or some such thing, for I was caught in a heavy net and rendered unable to escape. Water was now rushing in through the window, rapidly filling the room... I would have died had it not been for my talent." She paused again as she recalled the memory, drawing the hem of her robe closer with slightly shaky hands. "I did not have an alternative. I hoped that there was no bomb after all, and stopped my heart so as to shut down my breathing."

"I do not know what happened next, while I was in stasis. It... seems as though someone saved me? When I awoke I was on a mattress in the storage room, and someone had even thought to place a blanket over me. There was no-one around, and I quickly headed out back to the water park, which is when I rejoined everyone at the... bridge."

"When it was time to investigate, I went with Jack and Florian to the lockers, and then the control room. As we approached the locker room we noticed a long hose coming out of the doors for some reason... Florian rolled it back up and we moved on to investigate inside. We found nothing on the female side of the locker rooms, but on the men's side... presumably we encountered the aftermath of Bren and Oscar's altercation," Keri said uncomfortably. "There was a lute, a bullet lodged into one of the lockers, and some blood on the ground."

"We then left for the control room, noting several chairs and tables had been knocked over as we made our way there. The control room door was still locked, so I jumped through the window I had smashed earlier and opened the door from the inside. The window had a small amount of blood on it - mine, I believe, I received a cut on my stomach when diving through the first time. The room also was still flooded... and inside we found the remains of my little escapade from before: a net, the glass cutter and some tripwire. Additionally all of the systems in the room had shut down due to contact with the water."

"While we were there, Florian noted that the machines could be preset to activate at a specified time; he had discovered this when looking for a way to preheat the baths, apparently. I can only assume this is how the increase in water rejuvenation rate was triggered despite everyone having been present at the time."

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Florian turns to Bryan once more. "By the way, how did you find me? I don't remember anything that happened between the moment I jumped into the water and the time I woke up, when the flood had subsided...Did I miss anything important?"

"Mitzi... I will not miss you, but you did not deserve to die. I am sorry this happened," Keri said quietly to herself, before looking up at Bren. "And Bren, your lute... is she okay? She is an antique, I cannot imagine water is good for her."

Bren looks down at his instrument. "I'll probably need to unstring her, leave her to dry, but after that, she'll probably be fine." he states, calming down a little. "I can do it after the trial, I guess. She's old, but she's more resilient than she looks."

"Bzzt, yes, but what about now," V.A.L. insisted, appearing genuinely worried. "The cards may have been fine after the flood, bzzt, but maybe something happened during the investigations or while I was recharging, bzzt. The only way for my suddenly memory loss is damage or loss of my memory cards, bzzt."

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